The Republic

The Truth Will Set You Free College

In order to understand the Allegory of the Cave, you must first have a clear understanding of how Ancient Greek democracy functioned. Ancient Greece was the first experiment of direct democracy in human civilization. What direct democracy entails is that every citizen is a political equal and the aim of that particular government organization should be to promote full and direct involvement by every one of those citizens, participation is critical. Whether they are small decisions or big decisions, everybody must be involved. Because the Ancient Greeks believed that everyone was politically equal, they discouraged organizations that came together to support one particular cause, what we know today as Special Interest Groups. They believed that if you allowed for the presence of these Special Interests Groups, then these organizations would become more powerful than a citizen. This idea that every person must have political equality, was very important the Greeks.

There was a group of Greeks who began to question the idea of the direct democracy. These people were called philosophers. The philosophers were people who had a very long training and had an extensive education that were both consumed around teaching you how to apply...

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